Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2012 07:56:50 -0400
From: mark <whitroth at 5-cent.us>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Assault on education: NYT: Is Algebra Necessary?
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

On 07/31/12 00:36, Tamar Lindsay wrote:
> - On Mon, 7/30/12, mark<whitroth at 5-cent.us>  wrote:
>
>> Don't send this jerk to the supermarket - he won't be able to
>> comparison shop....
>>
>> Excerpt:
>>> A TYPICAL American school day finds some six million high school
>>> students and two million college freshmen struggling with
>>> algebra.
>> --- end excerpt ---
>>
>> <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/opinion/sunday/is-algebra-necessary.html?pagewanted=all>
>
>>
> If they stopped calling it "algebra" and just called it "learning how
> to get the best deal", maybe the students wouldn't be struggling.  A
> lot of people have a fear of math that is just fear of the words.  If
> it were presented as "solving problems" (the way I recall it used to
> be in 5th grade), or "getting the best deal without being cheated", I
> bet they could do it.

They should know what it is, but yeah, it's partly the way it's taught.
My late ex, who for all her faults, was really, really good at tutoring
kids in science and math, one-on-one, noted many times that the same
kids who have trouble with fractions suddenly became stars when you
pulled out some pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and made change.

mark

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